Georgetown University
ENGL 370 – Spring 2016
U.S. Culture: The Depression Era
Professor Brian Hochman
brian.hochman@georgetown.edu - New North 324 (T 3:30-530 PM; and by email appointment)
In the United States, the phrase “Great Depression” calls to mind an unusually vivid mix of images:
itinerant sharecroppers and ramshackle houses, unemployment lines and labor strikes, fireside chats
and WPA murals. Drawing on a wide variety of source materials, this course examines the
Depression Era in myth and reality. It also considers why the period retains a powerful hold on
national memory in our era of economic uncertainty. Writings by Carlos Bulosan, William Faulkner,
Zora Neale Hurston, Tillie Olsen, and Richard Wright; photographs by Margaret Bourke-White,
Walker Evans, and Dorothea Lange; films by Busby Berkeley, Frank Capra, Howard Hawks, and
Preston Sturges—among many others. Students interested in interdisciplinary approaches to
American culture and history are particularly encouraged to enroll.
Required Texts (available at GU bookstore):
William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying (Vintage Books)
Tillie Olsen, Yonnondio (Bison Books)
Richard Wright, Lawd Today! (Northeastern University Press)
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (Harper Perennial)
Carlos Bulosan, America is in the Heart (University of Washington Press)
Margaret Bourke-White and Erskine Caldwell, You Have Seen Their Faces (Univ. of Georgia)
Richard Wright and Edwin Rosskam, 12 Million Black Voices (Basic Books)
Nathanael West, Miss Lonelyhearts and The Day of the Locust (New Directions)
selected secondary readings – available electronically via GU Commons
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Class Policies/Requirements
Learning Goals
This course has three main objectives. Over the course of the semester, students who take
ENGL 370 should expect. . .
1. to gain an in-depth knowledge of U.S. culture during the Depression Era;
2. to experiment with interdisciplinary approaches to American culture and history;
3. to hone advanced close reading and critical writing skills.
Course Grades and Requirements
The breakdown for grades in ENGL 370 is as follows, with the majority of your final mark
determined by a 12-15 page paper due during exam period:
Blog Posts (5 total)
Paper Proposal
Final Paper
Class Participation
25%
15%
40%
20%
Please note: class participation includes regular attendance, thoughtful contribution to class
discussion, and sporadic response essays (more on these below). All absences should be excused.
Missing more than two classes throughout the semester will jeopardize your participation grade. If
you miss more than five, you should expect to fail the course.
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If you are working with the Academic Resource Center for academic support and need to modify
any of the course requirements discussed here, please see me during office hours to make the
appropriate arrangements. For more information, contact the ARC at 202.687.8354, or go to
http://ldss.georgetown.edu/.
Assignments
1. Blog Entries: You are expected to post online responses to the films and course
readings five times throughout the semester. Once enrollment settles, I will divide the class into
groups to designate when you’ll be responsible for posting. Either way, your post should be
visible on the course website by 10:00 AM on the day it is due. Your contributions to the class
blog are meant to be informal (three or four solid paragraphs, at most), but they should also reflect
clear writing and careful thinking. Your posts can respond to the day’s screening/readings in
whatever way you see fit, or they might respond directly to other blog posts. What about the texts
under consideration struck you? What image, sequence, theme, problem, or issue seemed most
important and why? These are a few questions to think about when you start out, but I can imagine
many others. Ideally, though, your blog postings will help propel class discussion and provide
potential fodder for your final papers.
2. Paper Proposal: due Thursday, April 28, 3-4 pages (typed, double-spaced, 12-point
font). In preparation for your final paper, you are expected to produce a 3-4 page essay abstract that
clearly outlines your topic, your thesis, and a few potential points of comparison between the two
texts you’ve chosen to consider. (For more on the final paper, see #3 below…) At the end of the
abstract, you should also list 5-6 secondary sources that you plan to consult in preparation for the
paper. We’ll go over how to search for and use secondary sources in class; as always, though, I’m
happy to suggest potential articles or books to peruse if you need help doing so.
3. Final Paper: due Wednesday, May 11, 12-15 pages (typed, double-spaced, 12-point
font). Your work for this course will culminate in an extended essay that examines one or two of
the texts on our syllabus. I’ll say more about the expectations for the proposal and the final paper as
the semester progresses. In short, you may write on whatever topic that you wish, and whatever
texts that you see fit—my only stipulations are that you meet with me to discuss your paper after
submitting your proposal, and that you consult 5-6 secondary sources in preparation for the writing
process. I’ll of course be available throughout the semester to help you hone your ideas, and to help
you determine the best way to go about executing them.
Course Expectations
1. Submit assignments on time. My policy is a simple one: for every day an assignment is
late, I will deduct 1/3 of a letter grade. I may make exceptions in documented cases of personal or
familial hardship (illnesses, family emergencies, etc.). But please take note, the pressures of other
exams, papers, or extracurricular activities are not an acceptable excuse for lateness. Plan now to
structure your time wisely—and please don’t hesitate to take advantage of my office hours to help
you work on assignments in advance of their due dates.
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2. Come to class prepared. At each class meeting, you’re expected to be able to address all
of the assigned readings (this means printing them out and bringing them with you!), and to
contribute to our conversation in thoughtful and accountable ways. Keeping up with the syllabus is
essential. I’ve tried to make each individual reading assignment manageable. If you fall behind,
there is some room to catch up. But be warned: unread pages pile up very, very quickly in this
course!
3. Meet with me, in office hours or otherwise, to discuss your writing. As listed
above, my office hours are on Tuesdays, 3:30-530 PM, in New North 324. I’m also readily available
by email appointment.
4. Follow netiquette guidelines. Please be mindful of how laptops, phones, and emails
influence your educational experience.

Laptops. Laptops aren’t allowed in class. This isn’t because I’m a Luddite. It’s
because I myself find it virtually impossible to avoid succumbing to the temptations
of the internet (checking email, updating Facebook/Twitter, perusing sports scores,
etc.) in settings where I’m supposed to be listening, speaking, and otherwise engaged.
Even in the most responsible hands, laptops end up hindering your ability to give the
world around you your full attention. If you tend to read the required texts for this
course electronically, you may bring your e-reader of choice to class only if you
disengage its internet functions beforehand.

Smartphones. A class in session is a like an airplane in flight. Using your
smartphone won’t bring the whole enterprise crashing to the ground, but it can
definitely make forward progress more difficult. Please put your phones on silent
when you come to each session. Resist the temptation to respond to emails and
texts during class time. And use your brain, not the internet, to help advance class
discussion.

Emails. You can expect me to respond to your email messages within 24 hours.
However, I reserve the right to ignore emails that fail to exhibit basic professional decorum. If
you’re uncertain about what that last sentence means, please consult any of the
excellent—and sometimes hilarious—resources that show up when you google the
phrase “how to email your professor.”
Plagiarism and Academic Honesty
The Georgetown University Honor Code, which includes a detailed definition of plagiarism,
can be found on the GU website at http://gervaseprograms.georgetown.edu/honor/system
/53377.html. In short,
Plagiarism is the act of passing off as one’s own the ideas or writings of another.
While different academic disciplines have different modes for attributing credit, all
recognize and value the contributions of individuals to the general corpus of
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knowledge and expertise. Students are responsible for educating themselves as to
the proper mode of attributing credit in any course or field. . . . [T]hree simple
conventions are presented for when you must provide a reference: 1) If you use
someone else's ideas, you should cite the source; 2) If the way in which you are using
the source is unclear, make it clear; 3) If you received specific help from someone in
writing the paper, acknowledge it. . . . Faculty may use various methods to assess the
originality of students' work. For example, faculty may submit a student's work to
electronic search engines, including turnitin.com, a service to which the Honor
Council and the Provost subscribe. Note that plagiarism can be said to have
occurred without any affirmative showing that a student’s use of another’s work was
intentional.
I follow Georgetown’s guidelines for plagiarism. Depending on the case, you will receive a zero on
the assignment, fail the course, and possibly receive further disciplinary action. If you have any
uncertainty about the meaning of plagiarism, please be sure to discuss it with me.
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Schedule of Readings/Assignments
[*] – available on course website
[§] - available via Blackboard/Sharestream
Th Jan 14
Course Introduction
Tu Jan 19
The Grapes of Wrath (1940), dir. John Ford [§]
Warren Susman, “The Culture of the Thirties” [*]
Michael Denning, The Cultural Front, 1-50 [*]
UNIT I: MODERNISM AND PROLETARIANISM
Th Jan 21
William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying (1930), 1-85
Tu Jan 26
Faulkner, As I Lay Dying, 86-end
Th Jan 28
Tillie Olsen, Yonnondio: From the Thirties (1932-6/1974), 1-113
Tu Feb 2
Olsen, Yonnondio, 114-end
Th Feb 4
Richard Wright, Lawd Today! (1937), 1-111
Tu Feb 9
Wright, Lawd Today!, 112-End
Th Feb 11
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), 1-87
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Tu Feb 16
Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, 88-end
Th Feb 18
Paul Robeson, “Ballad for Americans” (1939) [*]
Michael Denning, The Cultural Front, 115-160 [*]
Carlos Bulosan, America is in the Heart (1946), 3-93
Tu Feb 23
Bulosan, America is in the Heart, 94-189
Th Feb 25
Bulosan, America is in the Heart, 190-end
UNIT II: DOCUMENTING AMERICA
Tu Mar 1
David Kennedy, Freedom From Fear, 160-217, 249-287 [*]
William Stott, Documentary Expression and Thirties America, 1-25, 211-237 [*]
David Levi Strauss, “The Documentary Debate,” 2-12 [*]
Margaret Bourke-White and Erskine Caldwell, You Have Seen Their Faces
(1937), 1-16
Th Mar 3
Bourke-White and Caldwell, You Have Seen Their Faces, 17-end
Jeff Allred, American Modernism and Depression Documentary, 59-92 [*]
Tu Mar 8
NO CLASS (SPRING BREAK)
Th Mar 10
NO CLASS (SPRING BREAK)
Tu Mar 15
James Grossman, Land of Hope, 13-37, 98-122 [*]
Richard Wright and Edwin Rosskam, 12 Million Black Voices (1941), 1-89
Th Mar 17
Grossman, Land of Hope, 123-160 [*]
Wright and Rosskam, 12 Million Black Voices, 90-end
Farah Jasmine Griffin, “The South in the City” [*]
Tu Mar 22
Kennedy, Freedom From Fear, 381-464 [*]
The Great Dictator (1940), dir. Charles Chaplin [§]
Wolfgang Schivelbusch, Three New Deals, 73-103 [*]
Th Mar 24
NO CLASS (EASTER BREAK)
UNIT III: HOLLYWOOD AND THE CULTURE INDUSTRIES
Tu Mar 29
Robert Sklar, Movie-Made America, 161-194 [*]
Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, “The Don'ts and Be
Carefuls” (1927) [*]
Scarface: Shame of a Nation (1932), dir. Howard Hawks [§]
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Th Mar 31
NO CLASS (AWAY FOR LECTURE)
Tu Apr 5
Footlight Parade (1933), dir. Busby Berkeley [§]
Joel Dinerstein, Swinging the Machine, 182-220
Th Apr 7
NO CLASS (AWAY FOR LECTURE)
Tu Apr 12
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), dir. Frank Capra [§]
Michael P. Rogin and Kathleen Moran, “Mr. Capra Goes to Washington” [*]
Th Apr 14
His Girl Friday (1940), dir. Howard Hawks [§]
Stanley Cavell, Pursuits of Happiness, 161-188 [*]
Tu Apr 19
Nathanael West, The Day of the Locust (1939), 59-118 (up to Ch. 15)
Th Apr 21
West, The Day of the Locust, 118-end
Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, “The Culture Industry” (1944) [*]
Tu Apr 26
Sullivan’s Travels (1942), dir. Preston Sturges [§]
Th Apr 28
Course Wrap-Up
Paper Proposals Due
W May 11
Final Paper Due